More than 300 guests joined DLD founder Steffi Czerny, DLD Chairman Yossi Vardi, and Burda CEO Martin Weiss at the Burda DLD Nightcap, in Davos on January 17 where the World Economic Forum (WEF) is taking place.
For more than two years, the Corona pandemic threw a spanner in the works of Burda's flagship conference DLD Munich: The innovation conference traditionally held in January with the most exciting minds of our time and countless networking opportunities had to take a break, the event scheduled for earlier this year had to be cancelled. Four months later and in bright sunshine, it was finally time again: "Welcome back to DLD! For two years we've been staring at screens, and now we can finally meet in person again," DLD founder Steffi Czerny welcomed around 700 guests to Munich's Gasteig for a packed two-and-a-half-day conference programme.
Martin Weiss, CEO of Hubert Burda Media since January 2022, added: "I've been attending the DLD conference for fifteen years and I'm so glad it's finally starting up again after the two-year break!" He pointed out that we are currently facing extremely difficult times. Many of us felt powerless and lost by the great challenges of our time, such as Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, because these problems could not be solved alone. However, the Burda CEO was hopeful:
"Despite all the challenges of our time, we must not forget that we as humans have always managed to find solutions and change the world for the better. Why is that? The first is, there are people with amazing ideas. Who can inspire, who are really smart and share their thinking with the world. People are willing to collaborate. People are willing to join forces because at the end of the day, we are tribal people. We as humans love to come together in tribes and this allows us to change the world for the better. Mammoth hunting was the DLD of the ice age. We need solidarity and to solve problems together. Here at DLD, you have the chance to work with each other and talk to each other, because you are the tribe maker. All there is left now is to welcome you to DLD! We will have a wonderful time together.”
Martin Weiss, Burda CEO
At a uniquely historic time, with a terrible war raging in Ukraine, the climate crisis, inflation, and possible energy shortages causing fears for the future, DLD Munich 22 surprised us with new perspectives, with unexpected insights into the medical, social, technological and cultural revolutions that lie ahead. Above all, it was the so-called "hidden champions", the superstars of tomorrow, who were wowing the crowd with their groundbreaking innovations and ideas.
Among them was this year's winner of the Aenne Burda Award for Creative Leadership Andrea Pfeifer. The Alzheimer's researcher goal is to develop a vaccination against Alzheimer for particularly vulnerable people - the latest studies which are coming out in the next few days after nine years of research are very promising. “It’s very special talking about Aenne Burda when Hubert Burda himself is sitting in the front row as I’m talking about his mum”, said Martin Weiss who participated in the award ceremony. “My grandmother was a trailblazer! She was extremely powerful and when she was my age, she had to ask for permission to get a driver’s license and go to work. I’m extremely thankful for what she achieved and that this award is named after her”, added Elisabeth Furtwängler, daughter of publisher Hubert Burda, who handed over the award to Andrea Pfeifer.
“Receiving this award makes me very humble and determined to reach my goals”, said Pfeifer.
“My dream, my passion is to find a cure for Alzheimer. This disease takes away your memory, your talents, your personality, your independence, your will to live and finally your life. There are about 15 million people who are suffering from Alzheimer and this number will grow to 150 million until 2050 if we don’t act. But I also want to bring you hope. Things are changing, we are at a crossroad of science. I’m sure there will be diagnostics coming up who can detect symptoms before the disease comes out. So, we don’t want to treat this disease, we actually want to prevent it!”
Andrea Pfeifer, winner of the Aenne Burda Award for Creative Leadership
For more insights on topics and speakers of DLD Munich 22, check out our extended picture gallery. And if you couldn’t attend on-site or follow the DLD live stream, all panels from DLD Munich 22 are available here.
